Sunday, March 11, 2018

Anatomical Heart in Glass Tile Smalti Mosaic

This heart mosaic is a birthday present for our daughter. It began as a wish for her to follow her heart. As it progressed, I realized that you can't give a gift with such a huge caveat. Instead, this mosaic heart is simply given with our love. Happy 16th birthday Cece!

Finished Italian smalti mosaic of an anatomical heart

When I began work on this mosaic I started by reading through the heart section of my husband's anatomy books. I'm a pretty literal person and wanted to make sure that the heart was mostly anatomically correct and my color choices didn't stray too far from how the heart works. I spent quite a bit of time thinking and planning the project, finally painting it in watercolors to get comfortable with the shading and color gradients.

The watercolor inspired by my reading

This was my first time working with Wedi board as a substrate. Wedi board has a foam core and is much lighter than the wood. It was a little difficult to sketch on but very easy to apply thinset to. It was amazing to work with all of the colors of Orsoni Italian smalti and larger rotti. I tried to really pay attention to the flow and size of each of the pieces, changing up the shape when it came to the background.

My progress on the anatomical heart mosaic

It's finished and I hope she loves it and I hope she knows how much we love her. Happy Birthday Cece!